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Clarksville Speedway
Saturday Night Racing
June 20th, 2009
Tyler O’Donnell
The Clarksville Speedway drew a large crowd on Saturday night with the UMP Summer Nationals taking to the dirt track. 44 drivers competed in the late model class to win the $10,000 prize for the winner. The racing did not stop there as the street, open wheel, pure mini, mini mod, mini sprints, pro-street, and crate late model also took to the track for some door-to-door action.
Qualifying to determine the order for the heat races began with the crate late model series. Caleb Ashby got the fast lap with a 13.702. In mini sprints, Brian Nance got the pole with a time of 12.794. Then came open wheel with Randall Sweeney setting the tempo with a time of 13.553. The final cars to qualify were the late model series. After five rounds of qualifying, Billy Moyer was able to post the fastest time with a 12.743.
The feature races got started with the pure mini’s. James Turner started in second and battled for the lead in lap one until he had to retire due to mechanical issues. Michael Rittenbury managed to pull away, separating himself from the Evan Taylor. As the race wore on, the Taylor managed to catch the leader. Taylor was within five car links of Rittenbury with three to go. Rittenbury managed to get by the slower cars in front of him without any trouble and held off the charging Taylor. Derrick Tillman finished third.
In the mini sprint feature, Brian Nance, who started on the pole, had no trouble pulling away from the competition. Nance just had to worry about was lap traffic, which proved no problem. Ben Rushing who was running second most of the race, had a hard time fending off Dwayne Emberton, as Emberton was on Rushing’s back bumper most of the race. Emberton eventually managed passed Rushing in the closing laps, but it was too little to late for him to have a good look at Nance who took home the win.
The late model B feature had 16 competing for the win. With only 12 laps in the feature, drivers were up on the wheel, battling for every position. As the race got under way, the drivers that started out front got single file in a hurry. That was not the case in the back of the pack, with cars jockeying for every position they could get. Dennis Erb, who led since the drop of the green flag, put some distance between him Brian Shirley who was holding in second. After a caution flew, the race resumed, with Shirley trying to stick on the bumper of Erb. At the finish, Erb won by three car links over Shirley. Terry English, who started mid-pack, worked his way all the way to the third position, where he finished.
In the mini mod feature, Gavin Schmidt got off to a blazing start and pulled away from the rest of the field. Evan Taylor was solidly in second place with a battle between the Timothy Dunn and James Lovelady for third. After a quick caution, Taylor tried staying on the bumper of Schmidt, but it did not work for long. Schmidt took his car to another gear and pulled away again. At the end, it was no competition with the Schmidt taking the win. Taylor was second and Lovelady pulled out a third place finish.
Next came the pro street feature. Only three cars were competing in the event. Anthony Jackson had the pole but Mike Hodges got on the outside of him and made the clean pass. Michael Zimmerman lurked back in third. Hodges could not pull away from Jackson as the laps went by. Jackson seemed to be trying to find a groove to make the pass. Zimmerman was falling behind. With 5 laps to go, the Jackson was still on the Hodge’s bumper. It stayed that way to the last lap. Jackson could never make the pass as the Hodge’s got the deserving win.
In the street feature, there was a two car crash involving Mike Watson and Manley Wood that saw heavy damage to both cars. They each had to exit the race. When the race got back underway, Michael Neighbors took the lead. Clean air was helping him as the rest of the cars were having to battle each other. Neighbors was not pressured by anyone and took the checkered flag ahead of second place finisher Floyd Clinard Jr. and third place Ronnie Hedgepath.
Next was the anticipated late model summer nationals race. On lap one, there was a caution due to one car spinning out. The restart was once again double-file because they did not come around to complete a lap. It did not take long for another caution to be thrown out after a two car collision in turn 2. It involved the Scott James and Tony Albright. It appeared James got in the back of Albright. James seemed to have the most damage to his car. More trouble came again as another multi car crash took place. Some of the drivers were clearly frustrated with one another. On the restart, the Billy Moyer got outside of Kevin Weaver to move into the lead. Moyer started pulling away, but then had to deal with the slower cars in front of him. Then, another caution came out, as the Brandon Chappell spun out by himself. The race resumed single file. Moyer had no trouble pulling out, distancing himself from Weaver. Terry Casey was back in third. Moyer again was coming up to traffic. He was impressively using the high side to work around slower cars. Terry English had to retire from the race from mechanical issues. There were 12 laps to go. Randy Korte came through the field to pull into second, Brain Shirley in third. Tony Albright retired his car with six laps to go. The only way the Korte would have a chance to get by Moyer was if Moyer made a huge mistake. That mistake did not come. Moyer continued blowing by lap traffic. When the race ended, he was at the checkers while the second and third place cars were still on the backstretch. Moyer made it look extremely easy, taking the win he truly deserved. Korte finished second and Shirley third.
The next feature race was the crate model feature. Robbie Sanders got the pole, but right from the start the Matt Liner used the high line to propel him to the front. As cars in the back dueled it out, the top five managed to pull away. A caution with 7 laps to go tightened up the field, and gave Sanders and Ashby, who was running in third at the time, a chance to take a shot at the leader. When the race restarted, Liner showed the way again until a late caution with two laps to go, let them have another chance. However, no one could test Liner who ultimately went on to win.
Finally, the open wheel feature took place. Randall Sweeney, the pole sitter, pulled ahead with ease. Sweeney never missed his mark in any of the corners as Clayton Miller tried his best to keep pace. After a handle of cautions, Miller was still looking for someway to get around Sweeney. Miller tried the high groove but could not get it to work to his liking. Sweeney led every lap for the win. Miller held on for second, beating out third place finisher Michael Neighbors.
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